Does Spotify hit the spot?

Are you excited to try Spotify?

Totally, I've already signed up.
Not sure yet; I need to learn more.
Still waiting for an invite.
I'll stick to iTunes/Grooveshark/Rhapsody etc.
I prefer vinyl records.

I love music, but I hate downloading songs, and I can never get iTunes to run smoothly on my PC. That's why I'm intrigued by popular European music-streaming service Spotify, which hit the U.S. this week.

The U.S. version of Spotify is invite-only for now, but will apparently open for general use later. Currently, Spotify has a free, ad-based service that's time-limited.

There are also $5 and $10 monthly plans that allow users to listen to their music on mobile devices.

As CNET's Donald Bell explained, Spotify definitely has competitors like Grooveshark but it's hoping its free service will lead to a base of paying subscribers.

Our editorial roundtable noted that Spotify has a tricky search engine, and some tunes are missing from albums.

Overall, though, they gave it the thumbs-up. But what do you think? Is Spotify for you? Vote in our poll and add your comments below.

About the author

Crave freelancer Tim Hornyak is the author of "Loving the Machine: The Art and Science of Japanese Robots." He has been writing about Japanese culture and technology for a decade. E-mail Tim.
See full bio